The Garden Pond

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The garden pond is one of the oldest and most beautiful water features in the world. The sheer variety of different plants and animals that can inhabit a garden pond is truly stunning, and can make for a truly lovely garden. But to create and maintain a healthy garden pond can be both difficult and expensive. However when done correctly with the proper tools and quality supplies, the rewords can far outweigh the costs.

What is a Garden pond?

A garden pond is a small, man made body of water that is located within a garden, and is usually inhabited by numerous pond plants and animals. The types of plants and animals is completely up to the pond's designer, which can lead to some pretty interesting combinations. The most common type of garden pond is the koi pond, which is an ancient form of garden pond used to keep the long lived koi fish. This kind of garden pond has been around between 400 and 600 years!

Building and Maintaining a Garden Pond

If you think the addition of a garden pond to your outdoor area is a great idea, you must first consider a few things before you start digging. Proper planning is very important to any large project, but extremely important when constructing a garden pond. There are a number of important factors that will determine the overall health of your new garden pond, and all must be considered, especially if you want to keep fish and other wildlife. Here are a few tips on building and maintaining your new garden pond:

Always pick the area of your new garden pond very carefully. This one factor above most others will dictate the size and shape of your garden pond. If you live in a more densely populated residential area, underground pipe location is also a very important consideration. Be sure to check with your local zoning board before building your garden pond. Another consideration is shade, as this will determine what sort of pond plants you will choose.

When selecting pond plants, fish, and other creatures for your new garden pond, make sure they are compatible with each other. Certain species of pond fauna do not do well together, through either fighting, eating each other, or spreading disease. Fish ponds are an example of garden pond where this tip comes into play the most.

Does your area become very cold during the winter? If there's a risk your garden pond will freeze solid, it may be a good idea to invest in a pond heater. Many species of pond plants and animals cannot survive a solid freeze and will die off if it occurs. When the pond thaws back out, their bodies will toxify the water, killing off any remaining life. A pond heater will prevent this by only allowing the top of the pond to freeze, letting aquatic plants and animals ride out the colder winter months.